Hey folks, Harry here... You folks may remember that Moriarty loves JEEPERS CREEPERS... that Moriarty thinks it is the Bee's Knees... That Moriarty loves it like he does swinging mammaries... Well, here's another person that agrees... Read on....
Dear AICN,
I have sent a few scoops to AICN in the past but I'm not aware of any of them getting printed. I am a freelance movie reviewer based in the UK, and I have been posting my reviews at Jigsaw Lounge (www.jigsawlounge.co.uk) for over a year, with over 200 now on line - I am not connected with any movie studio.
This week I saw JEEPERS CREEPERS, and I remembered how positive early word on PITCH BLACK helped that project gain word-of-mouth. I believe that JEEPERS CREEPERS (henceforth JC) deserves to do as well, if not better, but it could so easily end up a sleeper cult hit - not a bad fate, of course, but I think the best US horror movie of the last 10 year's deserves to be seen by as wide a viewership as possible.
Though it was co-produced by Coppola, and is written and directed by Victor Salva, who did POWDER back in '95, it doesn't have any big-name stars, and the concept will be tricky to get over in posters and trailers. It starts off somewhat Texas Chainsaw Massacre-ish, with a brother and sister driving through a rural American backwater, and stumbling across a horrific secret.
The less you know about this picture in advance, the better: I knew nothing at all apart from the title, but this was a massive advantage, as the movie is wonderfully unpredictable. It is also extremely simple: a small number of locations and characters, and it all happens in a single day - pretty strict observation of the Classical Unities, if you like.
I was gripped by the movie while watching it, waiting for the director to put a foot wrong and spoil things: this never happened. It's a short movie (80-95 would be my guess) and the ending comes at just the right time. The more I think about it, the better it gets: think HH Munro (Saki)'s early c20th tales of the macabre, think Twilight Zone.
I saw it as part of a 4-day 16-movie screening along with much more high profile pics such as AMELIE, SHREK, SWORDFISH and MOULIN ROUGE. I liked plenty of these, but JEEPERS CREEPERS was comfortably the best. Apparently it's only just been completed - US release end of August, out over here for Halloween - and I am very keen to hear other viewers' reactions. This film does not deserve to be dismissed as just another little fright pic - I'm hoping it might build and find its audience, like FINAL DESTINATION did, through word of mouth. I'm hoping that process starts here and now, with this e-mail.
Many thanks.
--
Neil Young
